Greed is the Link Between Planned Obsolesce and Easy-Break Bats

July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.

By -

Editor, Times-Union:
Perhaps I should be judged as one of the worst cynics in the lower 48. The American consumer is not getting what he pays for. If it weren’t for good-old-fashioned greed of all sorts of businesses, fake organizations and some not-so-fake asking for donations and the gullible consumer, where would our economy be? Whatever happened to old-fashioned honesty?

For instance: How many billions of dollars have been donated to the fight against cancer? Every once in awhile we hear or read of some university that has found a cure for a type of cancer. That’s the last we hear of it. Could it be that the AMA doesn’t want a cure for cancer? It doesn't seem possible, but think of the thousands of doctors and nurses who would be out of work and hospitals that wouldn’t have enough patients to remain open. It would damage our economy.

We hear of a person in Michigan, Indiana or Ohio that has found a way to increase gasoline mileage to 100 miles per gallon with a simple alteration of the carburetion system on an automobile. That’s the last we hear of that. Does anyone besides me believe that the almighty oil industry either buys this person out or threatens him and his family with extinction? Some time ago a Japanese man had invented a process of turning discarded plastic products back into oil. This would benefit the landfills, the unsightly trash along our highways and possibly make for a cheaper oil. No further word.

Have you noticed how many baseball bats are now being broken in professional play? Are the players stronger than they were way back when? I don’t think so. It would be a simple procedure to change the direction of the grain in the wood slightly so the bats would break more easily. Could this be a job security measure proposed by the bat manufacturers? Nothing will be done until someone is fatally hurt by a flying splintered bat. Ticket prices go up to cover the additional cost. We are advised by the oil companies to change the oil in our automobiles every 3,000 miles. Modern day oil would last at least twice that long, but the gullible public believes the propaganda and therefore pays twice what it should.

Appliances are built so that they wear out three months after the guarantee expires. A trumped up shortage of peanuts occurs so the price of peanut-related products rise dramatically. Too much corn is being used for ethanol so the price of cereal skyrockets. A small crop of sugar cane in lower Slobovia is destroyed by a typhoon and sugar-related products go sky high worldwide.

Greed, government lies and false advertising are what keeps the nation's economy up and running and we as consumers are paying handsomely for it.

Bob Inman
Georgetown, Ga.
formerly of Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]

Editor, Times-Union:
Perhaps I should be judged as one of the worst cynics in the lower 48. The American consumer is not getting what he pays for. If it weren’t for good-old-fashioned greed of all sorts of businesses, fake organizations and some not-so-fake asking for donations and the gullible consumer, where would our economy be? Whatever happened to old-fashioned honesty?

For instance: How many billions of dollars have been donated to the fight against cancer? Every once in awhile we hear or read of some university that has found a cure for a type of cancer. That’s the last we hear of it. Could it be that the AMA doesn’t want a cure for cancer? It doesn't seem possible, but think of the thousands of doctors and nurses who would be out of work and hospitals that wouldn’t have enough patients to remain open. It would damage our economy.

We hear of a person in Michigan, Indiana or Ohio that has found a way to increase gasoline mileage to 100 miles per gallon with a simple alteration of the carburetion system on an automobile. That’s the last we hear of that. Does anyone besides me believe that the almighty oil industry either buys this person out or threatens him and his family with extinction? Some time ago a Japanese man had invented a process of turning discarded plastic products back into oil. This would benefit the landfills, the unsightly trash along our highways and possibly make for a cheaper oil. No further word.

Have you noticed how many baseball bats are now being broken in professional play? Are the players stronger than they were way back when? I don’t think so. It would be a simple procedure to change the direction of the grain in the wood slightly so the bats would break more easily. Could this be a job security measure proposed by the bat manufacturers? Nothing will be done until someone is fatally hurt by a flying splintered bat. Ticket prices go up to cover the additional cost. We are advised by the oil companies to change the oil in our automobiles every 3,000 miles. Modern day oil would last at least twice that long, but the gullible public believes the propaganda and therefore pays twice what it should.

Appliances are built so that they wear out three months after the guarantee expires. A trumped up shortage of peanuts occurs so the price of peanut-related products rise dramatically. Too much corn is being used for ethanol so the price of cereal skyrockets. A small crop of sugar cane in lower Slobovia is destroyed by a typhoon and sugar-related products go sky high worldwide.

Greed, government lies and false advertising are what keeps the nation's economy up and running and we as consumers are paying handsomely for it.

Bob Inman
Georgetown, Ga.
formerly of Warsaw, via e-mail[[In-content Ad]]
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